Journey’s End: Act 2, Scene 1 Summary & Analysis

The next morning, Osborne, Trotter, and Raleigh sit in the dugout eating breakfast. When Osborne asks Trotter how things are in the trenches, Trotter replies that he doesn’t like “the look of things” because of the quiet. “Standing up there in the dark last night there didn’t seem a thing in the world alive,” he says. Osborne agrees that it is rather inactive, and Trotter says, “Too damn quiet. You can bet your boots the Boche is up to something. The big attack soon, I reckon. I don’t like it, Uncle. Pass the jam.”

The night before, Trotter tells Osborne at breakfast, he and Raleigh came into the dugout after their shift and saw that Stanhope had gotten up from bed to drink more whiskey. “He didn’t seem to know who I was. Uncanny, wasn’t it, Raleigh?” Trotter says, and Raleigh dejectedly mutters “Yes” with a bowed head. “He just said, ‘Better go to bed, Raleigh’—just as if Raleigh’d been a school kid,” says Trotter, who starts getting ready to go on watch again. Just before he leaves, he says that he doesn’t like this time of day because the Germans have just had their breakfast and like to send “a few whizz-bangs and rifle grenades to show” they haven’t “forgotten” the British. “Still,” he says, “I’d rather ’ave a bang or two than this damn quiet.”

Once Osborne and Raleigh are alone, they talk about Raleigh’s first night in the trenches, and Raleigh admits that he feels as if he’s already been on the support line for “ages.” “I can’t imagine—the end of six days here,” he says. Osborne asks how the young man felt in the actual trenches, and Raleigh assures him that it wasn’t so bad, though he did find it “frightfully quiet and uncanny—everybody creeping about and talking in low voices.” This is because the Germans are only roughly 70 yards away, which Osborne likes to think of as about the same length as a rugby field. This leads the two men into a conversation about rugby, and Raleigh is thrilled to discover that Osborne used to play professional rugby for the English team.

After talking about rugby, Osborne and Raleigh talk about their German enemies. Osborne tells a story about how one of his fellow soldiers was once shot and injured in the field, and when they tried to go save him, a German officer stood up from the trenches and yelled, “Carry him!” When the British soldiers stood and started carrying their wounded man, the Germans fired Very lights so the men could see their way back. “Next day we blew each other’s trenches to blazes,” Osborne says, to which Raleigh replies, “It all seems rather—silly, doesn’t it?” Osborne agrees, and then after some silence Raleigh decides to go finish a letter.

As Raleigh leaves, Stanhope comes in and tells him to inspect his platoon’s rifles at nine o’clock. He then tells Osborne that he was recently talking to the Colonel, who told him that a German prisoner let slip that the big attack is set to happen on the 21st, which is just two days away. “Then it’ll come while we’re here,” Osborne says. “Yes,” replies Stanhope. “It’ll come while we’re here. And we shall be in the front row of the stalls.” He then looks down at Trotter’s chart, asking what it is. Osborne explains that it’s “Trotter’s plan to make the time pass by,” and Stanhope asks how many hours there are until “dawn on the twenty-first.” He then starts counting out the hours on the chart, saying he’s going to “draw a picture of Trotter being blown up in four pieces” on the 21st. 

Osborne urges Stanhope to not defile Trotter’s chart, saying that he spent a long time making it. Stanhope agrees that Trotter probably wouldn’t “see the point” in the joke anyway, since he has “no imagination.” He then asks Stanhope if he thinks “life sharpens the imagination.” This leads him into strangely philosophical, ponderous grounds. “Whenever I look at anything nowadays I see right through it,” he says. “Looking at you now there’s your uniform—your jersey—shirt—vest—then beyond that—” At this point, Osborne cuts him off, suggesting they talk about something else. Stanhope apologizes, saying that he has developed a habit of looking “right through things, and on and on—till [he] get[s] frightened and stop[s].” To this, Osborne says that everybody in the trenches seems to feel things “more keenly.” 

Stanhope admits he sometimes wonders if there’s something wrong with him. “D’you ever get a sudden feeling that everything’s going farther and farther away,” he asks, “till you’re the only thing in the world—and then the world begins going away—until you’re the only thing in—in the universe—and you struggle to get back—and can’t?” Osborne says this just sounds like a “bit of nerve strain.” Stanhope is glad to hear this, saying he actually felt this feeling this morning in the trenches. The sun was coming up and he was looking over the decimated land and thinking about the “thousands of Germans” out there, all of whom must surely be “waiting and thinking.” Then, suddenly, the feeling came upon him. Saying this, he barks out for Mason to bring whiskey. “So early in the morning?” Osborne asks, but Stanhope says, “Just a spot.”

Stanhope turns his attention to censoring Raleigh’s letters, insisting to Osborne that he’s going to have to do this—especially after last night, when Raleigh came downstairs and saw him in a wretched state and looked at him as if he’d “spat on him.” Just then, Raleigh enters the dugout on his way to inspect his platoon’s rifles. He carries a letter, asking where to put it, and Stanhope tells him to leave it unsealed on the table. Surprised, Raleigh asks why he needs to leave it open, and Stanhope tells him it’s because he has to censor it. “Oh,” Raleigh says, “but—I haven’t said anything about—where we are.” Still, Stanhope doesn’t budge. “Dennis—I’m—,” stammers Raleigh, but Stanhope yells, “Don’t ‘Dennis’ me! Stanhope’s my name! You’re not at school! Go and inspect your rifles!” When Raleigh doesn’t do anything, Stanhope barks, “D’you understand an order?”

Raleigh finally relents and puts the letter on the table without sealing it. When he leaves, Osborne says, “Good heavens, Stanhope!” Still, Stanhope holds his ground, saying it’s his decision whether or not to censor the letters, and Osborne acquiesces. Despite his vehemence, though, Stanhope says, “Oh, God! I don’t want to read the blasted thing!” As such, Osborne offers to read it for him. Reading through it, he tells Stanhope that the last portion is indeed about him, so he reads it aloud. However, it isn’t what Stanhope expected: the content is extremely positive, singing Stanhope’s praises and saying that the soldiers regard him as “the finest officer in the battalion.” The final sentence reads: “I’m awfully proud to think he’s my friend.” Hearing this, Stanhope lowers his head and tells Osborne to seal the letter.